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"Play is a toddler's work." That's how "What to Expect the Toddler Years" puts it. So, in between preparing meals, feeding & cleaning after minibeanie and time for myself, I try to arrange play dates with a couple of toddlers around minibeanie's age. Usually, it's one-on-one at someone's home but on Wednesday, I arranged for a play date at an indoor playground with 2 friends living in the same condominium.
As it was 1030 on a weekday, it was deserted - which was great! I bought a 10-visit card for RMB60 (6 euros/SGD12). Great value, I thought. Inside the playground were tunnels, slides, trampoline, a ball room, 'cars' etc... and of course, everything is padded for clumsy or over-active children.
minibeanie is an apprehensive child. Just like seeing strangers for the first time, he takes time to warm up to a new environment. He takes things in slowly but once he's at ease, he can go crazy. I can't remember how many times I've to put a delicate vase beyond his inquisitive fingers at a friend's home or to stop him from destroying a neighbour's DVD player. Nonetheless, he's not overly destructive for a 16-month-old. ...I think. Anyway, here at the playground, he's free to run and climb to his heart's content.
And as for minibeanie's playmates, they are 13-month old Ryuichi and 14-month old Rasmus, Japanese and Finnish respectively. Good-natured Ryuichi's always grinning ear to ear and stocky Rasmus (13kg!) is a barrel who's always rolling out of the playground and into the department store. :) Children do not play together at this age. Instead, they acknowledge each other coolly and very occasionally, their paths literally cross when they want the same toy or as in Ryuichi and minibeanie's case, their cars collide.
ps. Oh, I've a confession to make... it was so fun getting into the ball room to 'help' the kids onto the slide or to play with the balls. It was just like when I was 8 at Ikea's ball room again! :D
minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old
minibeanie has 2 finger puppets from our Silkair flights. One is a bee while the other is a Chinese man with a wide hat. We call the former, "Suzy the Busy Bee" while "Mr Tan" is the other moniker - a tongue-in-cheek reference to a friend who refers to himself as "Mr Tan of Boon Lay". Anyway, this is neither about the names we've christened minibeanie's toys or even about Suzy the Busy Bee...
December is a busy month. For the last week or so, I'd baked pumpkin pies for gatherings, tons of gingerbread cookies and vegetable casseroles that are traditional Finnish fare for the Christmas Eve dinner. And on top of everything, minibeanie is pushing his trolleys and cars into my feet, rearranging my larder and stacking the honey, baking powder & lentil boxes to form a precarious pyramid and generally making a mess.
He understands so much more now. All of a sudden, it appeared as if something clicked. He replies in the affirmative "Ugh" accompanied by a nod or every not so often, a shake of the head to indicate the negative. This afternoon I gave him his usual serving of fruit after lunch.
Do you like persimmon?
Ugh.
Do you like apple?
Ugh.
Do you like banana?
Ugh.
Do you like strawberry?
Ugh.
[ok.... maybe he's just saying "ugh" to everything I ask]
Do you like bugabuga?
....{silence}.......[he looked at me before continuing to shove persimmon bits into his mouth]
[Yaaaaayy! so he does understand me after all!]
minibeanie is 1 year, 4 months & 6 days old
minibeanie is 16 months old today. While he has limited his verbal communication to grunts (and babble that only he could understand), it was amazing that we are nonetheless communicating. The grunt "ugh!" accompanied by a heave of the shoulder signified "yes" to the question I was asking. And if he really really wanted the banana/teddy bear cookie/watch Sesame Street, it would be a vapid bounce up & down :D
He's also keen to exert his growing independence by wanting to feed himself. Hence, I've adjusted my mindset on 2 fronts. #1, it's ridiculous to expect him to use a spoon - fine motor skills is still somewhere in the distance. So, he now feeds himself most of the time with both hands a la Tarzan. #2, the natural consequence is that he makes a royal mess each mealtime. (the Baby Bjorn rubber catch-all bib has paid itself back many times its Euro 11 investment!) I've therefore stopped being anal because I'm hoping that with all this practice he'll soon learn how to feed himself and besides, my capable Ayi, who comes 3 times a week, simply makes all the grease and crumbs vanish :)
On the Chengdu front, it has been nice. We visited a couple of hotpots recently. One of which was 粥底火锅 ; basically, instead of a broth, everything's cooked in a base of porridge. At the end of the meal, the porridge steeped full of flavours and nutrients is eaten. Wonderful... if not for the lack of baby chairs in the restaurant so I guess the chances of us heading back there is rather slim :P
We also tried a fancy restaurant, 8 Trees, owned by a Singaporean. It boasts of a good selection of wine and a menu with entries like foie gras etc. But we went for its selection of Singapore food - chicken rice in particular. It was good! ..... but they've only got the taste 90% right. The chicken was juicy and done just right. But the rice wasn't aromatic enough and the defining chili lacked that garlicky punch. It was ok by chengdu standards but at SGD44 (ok, we also had a Thai beef salad that was way off the mark & a glass of house red), it must be the most expensive chicken rice meal we had. Again, I don't think we'd return. Not just because of the chicken rice but because they didn't have baby chairs!!! What's with these restaurants?!
Eating out with a toddler has now made me view restaurants entirely different. Obviously, imho baby chairs should be de rigeur but if they've got baby-friendly utensils such as melamine plates, that's a huge plus. And a really big plus will be if they've a play area in the corner for parents who wish to indulge in a little coffee after the meal. No no, I don't mean parents drinking their coffee in the play area but little tykes being let loose there; thought I'd clarify that. And I'm already beginning to look at McDonalds' and KFC in a different light ;)
minibeanie is 1 year & 4 months old
It was 9 days ago on November 6 when we went without night feeds. Most nights we slept through (hooray!) but there were some when he would still try to get something. Those times if the bottle of water doesn't help, we usually play possum when he cries until he falls asleep, not more than 5 minutes thankfully. I reckon that's 1 way how babies keep testing their boundaries & your resolve until they Get It. Consistency is key here. As my fav shrink, Dr Phil, says, children have to know with 100% predictability the consequences of their actions. Most times, parents cave in because it's the 'easier' route. And I know that because some nights I just think it will be easier to just give him some milk so that all of us get some sleep. But persevere, I must (and Yoda, I've become).
Then there have been other developments that signal that minibeanie is not a baby but a toddler by now :) He has begun playing with cars! He pushes them around making funny 'car' sounds :D So cool!
And speaking of toys, I bought minibeanie a picnic set of wooden tea cups, 'cut-able' fruits & cakes. I wondered if it was too 'girly' but dada said "why not, don't I drink tea?" Good point. This is another instance of the struggle against gender stereotypes. See 'Pink is for Boys'. Anyway, so I got 1 of Mother Garden's tea & picnic set that's all made of wood with drool worthy delicious yummy cakes, ice cream, doughnuts & fruits.
Honestly, I think I derived 90% of the joy in playing with the playset :D I think it is the little girl in me still who still goes ga-ga over cute pink tea cups. Anyone wants to play masak masak?
Christmas is looming up and the temperature is already in the low teens and somehow that combination triggers this 'gotta-bake-something' streak in me. I've been making the occasional bread but somehow chives & potato bread just doesn't cut the sweet tooth in me :P And being the (grateful) recipient of a couple of pumpkin/blueberry cheesecake muffins recently from a friend only makes that little sweet tooth cry for more, along with my dentist I'm sure.
Hence I made a batch of banana-walnut & banana-choc-chips muffins from a basic muffin recipe.
Basic muffin recipe
300g/3cups self-raising flour
125g/0.75cup castor sugar
1.5cups buttermilk
2 eggs
150g butter, melted & cooled slightly
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Mix dry ingredients together & make a well in the center.
2. Whisk together liquids and pour into dry ingredients and mix gently until the mixture is just combined.
3. Add whatever fillings/flavours you want at this stage.
4. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and bake for 20-25min or until risen & golden.
* In this batch, I chopped about 2.5 large bananas into large chunks and pre-roast the chopped walnuts just a little. It made about 19 8cm large muffins. And obviously, since we can't eat all within 3 days, I froze half of them for an emergency sweet treat or when I have house guests over.
minibeanie likes the banana-choc-chip muffin
minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old
We heard a horror tale of how a 3 year old would still be screaming for "maito!*" at 3am. I thought if we didn't do anything, that would be US 2 years down the road. And knowing how entrenched toddlers could be in their habits the older they become, I felt it was time to bite the bullet. It was all too easy to sail along and take the path of least resistance but like I said, better to tackle the issue now with a 15 month old than a 3 year old!
It has now been 3 nights since minibeanie got any milk at night. The first night happened rather accidentally or perhaps it was my subconscious that didn't allow me to get up when he fussed a little for his supper. It wasn't too bad; he fell asleep after a short while. Friday night (#2), dada got up at 2hour intervals to put the tutti back in when he fussed. Likewise, minibeanie fell asleep without much ado. Night #3 last night, Saturday, I got up about 3 times but thankfully he fell asleep quickly without much fussing.
Is this it? I hope we're training his little tummy not to expect food during the night. Despite the amount of milk he drinks some nights, I'm convinced it's more of a habit than real need. After all, he's now having 3 square meals & more a day so there's no need to wake up for food during the night. I know how it is, I get 'addicted' to a nightly mug of warm milk & half a cookie/muffin (that's bad, I know!) before bed myself... Here's to an uninterrupted night of sleep?
* milk, in Finnish
minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months & 2 weeks old
We were on the party circuit yesterday. At 10am, it was a 2 year old's birthday party, then at 4 it was a 5 year old's pirate-themed birthday party. Thankfully they were both within our condominium compound. The first party consists of the playgroup from the International Women's Club. Toddlers ranging from the youngest at 13 months to the oldest, a set of 3 year old triplets (super mum!), roam the apartment. I say "roam" because at this age, they do not play cooperatively. Instead, they play independently or "parallel play" as child psychologists put it. So, tiny toddlers flit from room to room leaving trails of muffin crumbs for their mummies to find. And so I found minibeanie rummaging through a cupboard of intriguing papers when we had to leave.
It was quite different at the 4pm party. Raucous children behaved like well, children. They moved in a pack screeching. Yet somehow, the adults are able to sit serenely on the side having their tea, cakes & cheese. I discover that the one constant between the toddlers & children is the mess (big surprise there) ;)
I suppose the parties did minibeanie some good. I checked out Gymboree today with a friend with the purpose of letting minibeanie socialize with his own kind. Instead of clinging to the back of my jeans for the first 10 minutes like he did previously, he was all over the toys the instant I put him down. He had lots of fun with the indoor gym which he discovered all on his own accidentally. Yet somehow, "structured play" (which is what Gymboree is about, isn't it?) seems like an oxymoron to me. Play is supposed to be free of rules. And isn't 15 months a little too young to be in a classroom environment? As my main objective is for minibeanie to build socialization skills, (being the only kid at home can build a rather skewed view of the world) I think the weekly playgroup would be a much better avenue. The playgroup has the use of a preschool's classroom & playground (Etonhouse actually) and I heard that the classroom is well-stocked with toys & books. An added bonus is that we get to see the same kids & mums every week which allows for rapport to be built. This on its own is a huge advantage over Gymboree. And finally, each Gymboree session costs Y200 - that's a freaking 20 euros and S$40 each 45-minute session! I'm reluctant to be paying good money for play at 15 months.
minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months, 1 week old & 4 days old
I couldn't bear to cut minibeanie's hair at the back of his head. Especially since they curl most adorably outwards so that his profile is that of the omega sign should anyone make a papercutting of this boy. But I had to. I had to because he perspires so much during play that it may be giving him a rash at the back of his neck. So during yesterday's bathtime, when we were splashing about in the tub, I cunningly whipped out my salon-grade scissors and made the first snip :(
I thought I did quite a good job until dada remarked the next morning that minibeanie has become a Mormon boy from Goldilocks. He also said something like... "pot head".
minibeanie is 1 year, 3 months & 2 days old
It was the most horrible 9 days. By the end of it, minibeanie had filled half of Chengdu's landfill with steaming loads of diapers, puked for 2 days, ran a fever for 4 days & lost a ton of weight. Meanwhile, DH & I took turns with the nasty virus. Just as I congratulated myself on escaping the bug, it was my turn to be hugging the toilet & shivering with fever. Crap. That too.
Thankfully, all is fine now. In the throes of it, we wondered several times if we ought to bring minibeanie to the hospital to be hydrated intravenously. This thought crossed our minds each time he gave an explosive encore in his diaper. It sounded just like someone squeezing the end of the Heinz ketchup bottle real hard with just a few drops to go. Any other times, it would be hilarious. But when it was 4:30am or when we'd just changed diaper #8 5 minutes ago, it was a sinking feeling. Not again.
His appetite has slowly returned which was a great relief. I do hope this is the last flu we get for a very long time!
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks & 4 days old
It was a horrible start to any day. I woke up to check on minibeanie's temperature (for he had been running a fever the past 1.5 days) at 7 in the morning and was shocked to read 39.4. That number jolted DH out of his sleep and we decided that a trip to the hospital was called for. We would normally have gotten him to the clinic but this being a weekend, it was closed.
I was dreading the hospital because it was after all a Chinese hospital; let's face it, Chengdu was not Beijing or Shanghai. My apprehension was fully justified on reaching the hospital. It was over run by people. Chaos reigned. I managed to locate the reception cum information desk by virtue of a nurse behind a counter being surrounded by hordes of pushing Chinese all asking questions at the same time. I managed to elbow in and finally got my question across and was then directed to a registration booth down the hallway. I registered, got a card for Y9 and was given a thermometer. After 5 agonizing minutes, we gave the thermometer back to the nurse and was told 38.1. There was a collective sigh of relief.
As it didn't seem like an ER situation, we were then directed to the "Children's clinic #1" - a room further down the hallway. We gave our form to the attending nurse who then lined it at the back of a row of forms by the window. This would be our queue. There were 2 doctors facing each other in the room. Little patients and their caregivers would be standing or sitting on the 2 stools facing the doctors.
Calm cannot be used to describe the scene in and outside of the clinic. There were simply too many people around compounded by screaming parents calling after their wayward shrieking kids, crying babies in obvious discomfort and the general population who must talk with raised voices.
We waited patiently for our turn (half an hour, I was told). About 2m behind us stood a security guard which was rather perculiar I thought. DH said it was because we were the only foreigners. minibeanie appeared to be in good spirits. He was entertained by dada's silly antics and the occasional teddy bear cookie, his all time favourite. It was such a relief that he seemed his normal self.
After half an hour or so, it was our turn. The doctor noted the symptoms, listened on the stethoscope, pried open a very reluctant baby's mouth and diagnosed it as upper respiratory infection. Over all, the lady doctor was professional. If she seemed brief it was because the clinic was run like a sausage operation in a non too pleasant environment. She seemed kindly enough and even switched to English when I was struggling with Chinese medical terms.
After that, we took the form with the scribbled prescription (it's a universal fact that doctor's handwriting is illegible!) and headed out to get our medication. First a visit to the cashier where I paid Y54, followed by another queue at the drug counter to get the fever and diarrhoea medications. Finally at 10, we spilled out of the hospital to a bright but slightly chilly day. Relief!
Today, minibeanie had fewer rummy tummy episodes compared to the past 2 days :) Let's pray that he's on the mend. We were told that diarrhoea could last for up to a week and the fever for 3-4 days. It's strange how we left Chengdu in t-shirts and shorts 2 weeks ago but return to long-sleeved fleece sweaters. Thanks to the change in temperatures, it's now the start of the flu season.
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks & 1 day old
We started the day of departure, Monday, at 0430. Got to the airport all bleary-eyed still and discovered that the flight had been delayed until 2330. Oh man! But it wasn't all bad. You see, we got to enjoy another day in Singapore! :D Air China put all of us up at Copthorne Orchid, a laid back hotel on the outskirts of Orchard Road. And so we checked in and to our surprise, we were given a suite (probably thanks to DH's Star Alliance gold card). We were given meal vouchers for all 3 meals which wasn't bad because we got to have great beef rendang, satay & seafood (the last seafood stop before Chengdu!).
The delay definitely had a silver lining for we got to run some last minute errands & had a last piece of kaya toast & kopi at Ya Kun - where we caught minibeanie's grandmother sneaking out despite her earlier claims of flu!
But it hadn't been easy since returning to Chengdu. I'd a slight flu and minibeanie had rummy tummy. 9 poopy diapers today so far. The last one happened just as we were about to turn in. It's now past 2 after all the brouhaha.
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months & 2 weeks old
We'll have to wake up tomorrow morning at a most inhumane hour - half past four. sigh* Trust Air China to pay for the cheapest timeslot at Changi.
It had been a very enjoyable trip. We met up with friends whom I hadn't seen in ages - Sharon, RJ bunch (Rhu, Mari, Jazz, WeeLin), sky (it's her initials...she's not really called Sky like some girls who are called "Milk" or something..serious!).
We got to do lots of fun stuff like bringing minibeanie to the Underwater World. Despite his young age, I think he knew what was going on. For some reason, he reached for dada to be carried and he gripped dada really hard when he saw particularly large fish & rays swimming above him. And today, typical of so many Singaporean parents on a Sunday, we brought him to a center that will hopefully enhance/increase his intellectual prowess ;) And so we went for a trial lesson at Kindermusik at Tanglin Mall. 45 minutes of singing, dancing & playing on musical instruments. Admittedly, I think the mums got more of a workout what with prancing & swinging 10kg babies. But will I pay good money for that weekly 45 minutes? In the end, I don't think so. It's nothing like what I haven't been doing at home - banging on drums (a wooden spatula and an overturned pot on my kitchen floor!), silly dancing with dada, marching to the mummy calvary's 'trumpet & drums' etc. And if it's for the company of other same age babies, we've neighbours.
Are we done yet?
Oh, and of course the marvellous food! We had a mental checklist of our favourite local food to be checked off such as Hokkien prawn mee, satay, fish head beehoon, nasi padang and uncountable cups of kopi (coffee) & kaya toasts. Of course, Indian cuisine was also high on our list. We'd great Punjab food at Race Course Road and masala thosai & onion bhaji at Saravana Bhavan. And today, we visited what's unofficially Little Burma at Peninsula Plaza. At the basement and third floor are lots of Burmese eateries thronged with Burmese workers on their day off.
minibeanie's first ride
And of course, shopping! This time, we are carting back tons of organic foodstuffs & milk. Geeesh, what else is contaminated in China. Who knows? We're sorry to be leaving clean & green Singapore. With 4 hours to sleep, I think it's time to turn in!
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months, 1 week old & 3 days old
A memorable night for F1 fans and for Singapore but one to forget for Ferrari. What can I say that hasn't already been said?
Great fun and company. We went with Rhu & David, the former whom I've known half a lifetime ago (fancy that!) and whom I've gone for lessons on tennis, makeup, pottery & dancing ... among other crazy stuff like abseiling. So yeah, it was fun especially when we were all decked out in red on race-day :D
It's all Nelson Piquet's fault. Massa was leading and Kimi was steadily catching up on Hamilton. Then Piquet just had to lose it (again!) and as everyone know, the chain of events that happened made this the most disastrous race of Ferrari ever. [If you don't know what I'm talking about, which planet are u from?] It's of small consolation that Kimi holds the lap record.
A poster night for Singapore. Singapore was decked out in style. The skyline was breathtaking and the organization of the F1 was done in true Singapore fashion - well executed and meticulous. All in, much kudos. But does it have to be so bright? :D Yes, it's for the safety of the drivers but after all the touting of being able to see the glow of the disc brakes, the track was lit as bright as day.
Gotta get a bigger flag next year. I was waving a 25x20cm Finnish flag. It felt puny. I resolve to get the materials and get a tailor in Chengdu to make me a much larger one that's at least 4 times the current one :P Then I bought face paint and painted mini Finnish flags on our cheeks. Glad that DH went along with this craziness of mine :D [nope, those flags won't be much bigger next year ;) we also discovered that I'm a better artist than DH]
An obviously drunk Finn 4 rows behind us had a flag that was nearly 1.2m across. Before the race began, he yelled his war cry, "Sweden sucks!"
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months & 5 days old
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